New York City has long been home to one of the world’s most innovative music scenes. Since 1970, the city has incubated genres that have altered the landscape of popular music while nurturing experimental forms which remain unpalatable to commerce. Moderated by Jeff Wengrofsky, Profiles of the Downtown Music Scene offers a public forum for downtown musicians, scene makers and engineers to talk about how New York has been an inspiration, a crucible, a social nexus and at times, a hindrance. Three sessions examine the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s music scenes.
Moderator
Jeff Wengrofsky teaches cultural history at New York University, and directs the Syndicate of Human Image Traffickers and Human Features Film. He has coordinated conferences at Yale University, The Wolfson Center for National Affairs at The New School, and the New York Academy of the Arts, and has served on the staff of Aperture Photography Magazine, Coilhouse Magazine, and Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory. He is working on The Song of Hiawatha, a feature length documentary film about the American Counterculture.
Participants
Martin Bisi’s career as music producer and sound engineer came about quite by accident as an adventurous youth. He has since produced John Zorn, Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth, and Herbie Hancock.
Elliot Sharp, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and Zohar Records founder, intersects anthropology, avant-musical stylings, and hard science. Sharp is a central figure in avant-jazz, no-wave, and experimental music scenes, collaborating with a number of prominent musicians.
Parker Dulany is the vocalist for Certain General, a noted post-punk outfit and house-band at the Danceteria in New York.
John S. Hall was a weekly participant in open-mics at ABC NoRio, where he developed his unique musical and narrative voice. His group, King Missile, reached fame with their hit “Detachable Penis.”